


An EnThralling Conversation

by staringatstars



Category: The Adventure Zone (Podcast)
Genre: Forgiveness, Gen, Post-Canon, Spoilers, The Bulwark Staff, Thrall - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-01
Updated: 2017-10-01
Packaged: 2019-01-07 15:13:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,578
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12235410
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/staringatstars/pseuds/staringatstars
Summary: Taako and Lucretia need to talk things out, so Lup locks them up together in the Director's office.She's had better ideas.





	An EnThralling Conversation

To tell the truth, Taako was getting really fed up with all the constant stonewalling his attempts to talk to Lucretia in private were getting from just about every member of their shared friend circle, including his sister. 

It was getting old. 

See, he didn’t actually like being bitter at Lucretia. One giant, galaxy-sized screw up or not, she was family, which meant she got a tacit invite to all the family outings, dinners, and general get-togethers. It was getting to the point where Taako could barely stand being in the same room with her when company was around, what with Angus, Killian, and Magnus shooting him heated glares and disappointed looks whenever he not-so-subtly let it slip that, no, he hadn’t quite forgiven her for taking away a hundred years worth of memories and any hope he’d had of finding his sister, as well as possibly any hope he’d had of freeing her from the Umbra Staff _before_ she’d had to endure a decade’s worth of isolation.

Yes, he knew she’d been put in a tough spot, and he knew that the year on the Starblaster she’d spent on her own had messed her up something fierce, but that was his grief she’d stolen, his love, his sister, his _friends._

She’d always be family to him, this hadn’t changed that, but once upon a time, she’d been his friend, too. And he missed her, like a physical ache he just couldn’t seem to shake, and if the way he caught her staring at him when she thought he wasn’t paying attention was any indication, she missed him, too. 

Which was probably why, today, Lup had taken it upon herself to lock them up together in Lucretia’s office. 

“Come on, Lulu, this isn’t funny.” Taako pounded on the high and solid doors, inwardly cursing the Director for her over-the-top theatrics. “Open up!”

“Nuh-uh,” Lup’s sing-song voice drifted in, muffled due to the inches worth of mahogany between them, “Not until you two talk this out.” There was a swift, friendly rap, and then, “Toodles!”

And her presence dissipated, meaning it really was only the pair of them, and who knew long it would be before someone realized they were missing? At the very least, the first place they’d check would either be his room or Lucretia’s office. Long enough to give them a chance to talk but short enough that they would likely be found before either of them tried to kill the other. 

His shoulders already forming a vague shrug, he turned around to see Lucretia staring at him blankly from her seat behind her desk. “I was wrong,” she said distantly, as though her soul had already taken flight, “ _this_ is the nightmare scenario.”

Taako huffed a laugh. “Oh, don’t be like that. I don’t bite, Luce.” She glanced up at him dubiously while he struggled not to smile with all his teeth. Waving broadly at their general situation, he confidently added, “We just have to wait for someone to figure out we’re gone, and you’re the Director. They’ll be running around like chickens with their heads cut off without you in no time, you’ll see.” 

Though she seemed mildly reassured, he couldn’t help but wonder about why he was even trying to comfort her when the thing that had her so on edge was being stuck in a room with him. Plus, wasn’t he supposed to mad at her? If anyone needed comforting, it was him. 

Except she looked so old now, fragile and worn in a way the Lucretia in his memories rarely did. Was there anything he could have done back then to remind her that she didn’t need to handle the hard stuff alone? Or would his words and actions have fallen flat in the face of the hell she’d suffered when they were all dead and she’d had to do exactly that?

A wave of sorrow swept over him as he wondered how it must have felt to be forgotten. 

While he was debating on what to say next, he noticed Lucretia struggling to stand, and watched as she nearly fell right back into her seat. “Taako,” she said beseechingly, “could you fetch me my staff?”

This was their first and most grievous mistake, because for a moment, in light of their predicament, they’d let themselves forget about the Light, the Hunger, and the Grand Relics. And Taako grabbed the Bulwark staff, a long and gnarled, seemingly innocuous length of carved wood, without his guard up against the Thrall. 

The whispers began seeping their way into his mind the instant his skin made contact, and he pulled the staff closer to his chest. Lucretia was still stubbornly attempting to stand on her own when she heard Taako quietly beg, “Sorry to rush you, Lu, but I really need you to take this from me. Pronto.”

She glanced up at him in horror, realization settling in on her features, and as their eyes met, and Taako’s own expression began to harden, like a wall shutting her out. 

“I know what she did,” he hissed, gripping the staff so tightly his knuckles turned white. “I don’t need you to remind me.” 

Oh. That was so not good.

Lucretia opened her mouth to say something, to shout his name, but before she could utter a sound, something like fear crossed his face. He shook his head. “It can’t happen again. The Voidfish are gone.”

She could almost hear the Thrall’s response.

 _But if she did?_

And Taako, the wizard she’d grown so close to over the course of a century that their bond could power a ship and save the universe, turned cold. No jokes, no laughter, no joy, or smiles. The man standing before her was a stranger she’d met only once before, and he stared right at her as he promised, “I would kill her.”

Like it was natural. Obvious. 

Like the words alone didn’t make her want to scream with grief for all that she’d lost in her quest to never lose again.

It takes the strength from her legs and she sinks to the ground, cursing herself for letting this happen, but more than that, desperate. She reaches out to Taako, sincerity carved in every inch of her, right down to her core, “And I would let you, but it would have to be you, Taako. Not the staff acting through you.”

Watching her attempt to stand again on shaking knees, some of the warmth began to return, but there was something wrong. He took a step towards her. “I’m not going to kill you, bubbeleh.” She wished he wouldn’t get any closer. All saccharine sweetness, he knelt down to place a single finger beneath her chin. “I just want an apology. 

Brow furrowed, Lucretia jerked her head away from him, “I’ve already-“

And as though he were tired of repeating himself, Taako stood up and said, “No, you’ve said you’re sorry and then tacked on an excuse.” His voice took on a higher pitch as he mimicked her posture. “I’m sorry, but I had to do it. I’m sorry but it was for the greater good. I’m sorry but you were all suffering and I couldn’t stand it anymore.”

“Do not mock me, Taako.” Tears pricked her eyes, but she refused to let them fall. “You are not the only one who has suffered, thanks to my actions or otherwise.”

Again, an emotion flitted across his features, too quick to catch before the staff shut it down. “I know that,” he murmured tonelessly. 

Well, at least that was proof that he was listening. “Back then, the world was tearing itself apart because of what we’d done. What choice did I have? I had to do something.” 

“You think I care about the world?!” He shouted at her. “You guys were my world. You were everything that mattered!” She flinched at the anguish in his eyes. “And you took that all away. And as for your choice…” Now, however, he averted his gaze, refusing to look at her. “Less than five minutes with all of us in the know and we came up with a solution that worked. Maybe it would have happened sooner, or maybe it never would have happened at all.” Shoulders slumping, he admitted reluctantly, “There’s really no way to tell, is there?”

She was on her feet now. Finally. And walking towards him, her arms outstretched though he seemed too distracted to notice. 

“I’m sorry, Taako. I should have trusted you. I should have trusted _us._ ”

Quietly, he mumbled at the floor, “Would you do it again?”

Lucretia halted, holding back a grimace. “This peace, this victory… I wouldn’t sacrifice it for anything.” Then, cautiously, she took another step forward, half-expecting Taako to throw a shield around himself or attempt to stop her, but he remained still, as though frozen in place. “Would I repeat my actions in the future? I don’t think so. But if I had the chance to go back and do it all again, I wouldn’t change a single thing.” 

After a long moment and a visible internal struggle, Taako relaxed with a sigh. “And I would still try to stop you… but I get why you did it.” His grip loosened, and he swayed, threatening to fall as the effects of fighting off the Thrall’s influence began to show. “That’s probably enough for now.” 

She took the staff from his hands.


End file.
